Mothproofing resistant plastic garment bag



Feb. 5, 1952 E. M. LONDON MOTHPROOFING RESISTANT PLASTIC GARMENT BAG Filed June 26, 1948 4 JNVENTOR fM/Q/I/UAZ /1. 40/1/00 Y f 6 ,qrrae/z/frs' Patented Feb. 5, 1952 MOTHPROOEING aasrs'rm rms'rrc amusn'r nae Emanuel M. London, New York, N. Y., minor to A. L. Siegel 00., Inc., New York, N. Y., a cerporation ofNew York Application June 26, 1948, Serial No. 35,371

3 Claims. (Cl. 208- 1) The present invention relates to a garment bag formed of plastic sheeting'which is resistant to the action of reagents commonly used in moth proofing.

During the summer months it is necessary, if garments are to be protected against the ravages of moths, that they be treated with a reagent specifically designed to inhibit or prevent the destructive action of moths and their larvae. Among the more common and more eflective of the moth proofing reagents now in extensive commercial use I may mention paradlchlorohenzene which is manufactured and sold commercially under various trade names. Moth proofing reagents of type come in various forms and are applied to the garments in various ways. According to one mode of application, the moth proofing reagent is supplied in the form of flakes which are dusted onto the garment and which are also placed at the bottom of the enclosure in which the garment are stored. According to another mode .of application of such moth proofing reagents, the active ingredients are sprayed on the garments;

It is the prime object of the mode of application that the moth proofing reagents remain in or close to the garments over a long period of time so'that the moth proofing action will be of relatively long duration. When' the garments are, as in practice they must be, stored in closed compartments so as to conserve the effect of the reagents, the active ingredients will necessarily react with the garment container itself.

It has been found that when the garment container is'in the form of a plastic sheet garment bag, th sheeting normally being of a vinyl resin such as vinyl chloride or vinyl alcohol, the action of such moth. proofing reagents as paradichlorobenzene has a definite deleterious effect upon the garment bag, The sheeting which forms the walls of the garmentbag soon becomes hard and brittle so that handling thereof causes it to crack. This not only destroys the garment bag but also renders ineffective the action of the moth proofing reagents on the clothes stored therein since the reagents are permitted to evaporate rapidly through exposure to the outside.

In an attempt to avoid this disadvantage. considerable experimentation was conducted to find a material suitable for use in garment bags and which at the same time would be resistant to the action of paradichlorbenzene and other standard moth proofing reagents so that a garment bag could be made which would be capable of storing moth proofed clothes over a period of many months without deterioration of the garment bag or loss of. efiective moth proofing action.

' It was found that plastic sheeting tor-memo: polyethylene was substantially unaffected by moth proofing reagents. flexible sheeting made from polyethylene retaining its flexibility and imperforate nature over long -periods of time without any aparent deterioration; f v However, sheets madefrom polyethylene alone do not have sufilcie'n't inherent structmal strength to'be used in garment bagsadapted for home or commercial use. Polyethylene'sheets"are so subjeclzto ripping or tearing as to be unable 'to withstand the strains incident to normal use and handling of such garment bags. i

The prime object of the present invention is to devise a garment bag which is resistant; to the action of moth proofing reagents and which at the same time is suiiiciently structurally strong so asito withstand normal usage.

A subsidiary object of the present-invention is to devise such garment bags which are easily and simply manufactured at theleast expense and without sacrifice either of strength or resistance to moth proofing reagents. In accordance with the above objects and such other objects as may hereinafterappear, the present invention relates to the construction of a garment bag as defined in the appended claimsand as described in this specification, taken together with the accompanying? drawings. in

line 2-2 ofFig. 1.

The garment bag as illustrated'is;.of conventional shape, comprises a top wall}, afibottomwall 4, front and back side walls t, and right and left side walls 8, one of the side walls Qgbaing provided with a slide fastener ll through which access to the interior of the garment bag may be had. Hangers l2 project upwardly from the top wall 2 so that the garment .bag may be. sup ported in conventional manner. Each of the walls is preferably formed at least in part of a flexible plastic sheet of vinyl chloride or of vinyl alcohol, each of the sheets being secured together in any desired manner, either by heat seals ing or, as here illustrated, by the use of reinforc ing edge strips I which are stitched to various plastic sheets so as to secure them together.

As ha already been explained, plastic sheets formed of vinyl chloride or vinyl alcohol are not sufiiciently resistive to the action of moth proofing reagents. According to the present invention, resistance to the action of moth proofing reagents is achieved by making one or more of the walls of the garment bag of a two-ply formation, one ply being of vinyl chloride or vinyl alcohol in order to provide sufficient structural strength and the other ply I6, superimposed on the first ply, being of polyethylene, this second ply 16 providing resistance to the moth proofing reagents. In normal use of the garment be, the moth proofing reagents will be found within the bag so that the plyiii of polyethylene should be disposed on the interior of the bag overlying and completely covering the vinyl resin ply so as to insulate it completely from the deteriorating effect of the paradichlorbenzene or other moth proofing reagent. In this way, the vinyl resin ply imparts the needed strength to the polyethylene ply IE or, viewed in another way, the polyethylene l6 imparts the needed resistance to moth proofing reagents to the vinyl resin ply. While it is possible to construct all of the walls of the garment bag in this two-ply manner, it has been found that for normal household use, that is not at all necessary. The moth proofing reagents tend to fall by gravity to the bottom of the garment bag and it has been found that their effect on the vinyl resin sheets is limited, for practical purposes, to those sheets with which the solid particles of the moth proofing rea ent are in positive contact. The volatilized moth proofing reagent normally has such a slow and weak effect upon the vinyl resin sheets as to render insulation of those sheets from the moth proofing reagent unimportant from a practical point of view except in heavy duty storage. Consequently, in the garment bag here illustrated, only the bottom wall 4 is two-ply in nature.

A garment bag of the type here specifically disclosed, in which only the bottom wall 4 is of two-ply character, was sprayed with a solution of commercial paradichlorbenzene dissolved in carbon tetrachloride until the interior of the bag was well coated with paradichlorbenzene. The bag was hung in normal manner and a substantial quantity of paradichlorbenzene flakes were placed within the bag. After a period of seven days, the bag was carefully examined and it was found that no appreciable discoloration or alteration of the physical characteristics of the plastic sheets could be detected. The sprayed paradichlorbenzene had all settled to the bottom wall 4 and the inner polyethylene sheet l6 had protected the outer vinyl resin sheet from the action of the moth proofing reagent. The side and top walls 2, 6 and 8 were also unaffected.

From this test it appears that garment bags made according to the present invention have satisfactory resistance to moth proofing reagents of the type of paradichlorbenzene and that it is not necessary, for normal use, that any but the bottom wall 4 be protected by the use of polyethylene sheets. This materially reduces the cost of such garment bags since the amount of polyethylene which must be employed therein is far less than if all of the "falls had to be insulated through its employment. Moth proofed garment bags can therefore be made according to the present invention in conventional manner and without the necessity of employing any additional or unusual steps in assembly, this being particularly important from an economic point of view because assembly of the garment bags i considerably more expensive than the cost of the materials which go into them. Garment bags made according to the present invention are Just as strong and dependable as conventional garment bags and in addition are possessed of greatly increased resistance to moth proofing reagents, thus rendering such garment bags capable of use for storing clothes over the summer months without fear of deterioration or destruction of the garment bag itself.

While I have here disclosed only one embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A garment bag comprising a two-ply wall, both plies being substantially air-impervious, said two plies being superimposed one on the other, one of said plies comprising a flexible vinyl resin sheet and the other of said plies comprising a flexible polyethylene sheet, said vinyl resin sheet imparting sufiicient strength to said wall and said polyethylene sheet rendering said wall resistant to the action of moth-proofing reagents.

2. A garment bag comprising a two-ply wall. both plies being substantially air-impervious, said two plies being superimposed one on the other, one of said plies comprising a flexible vinyl resin sheet and the other of said plies comprising a flexible polyethylene sheet, said vinyl resin sheet imparting sufiicient strength to said wall and said polyethylene sheet rendering said wall resistant to the action of moth-proofing reagents, said polyethylene sheet being inwardly disposed with relation to said vinyl resin sheet.

3. A garment bag comprising a top wall, side walls, and a bottom-wall, said bottom wall being of two-ply formation, both plies being substantially air-impervious, the lower ply comprising a flexible vinyl resin sheet, and the upper ply, superimposed on said lower ply, comprising a flexible polyethylene sheet, said vinyl resin sheet imparting suflicient strength to said bottom wall and said polyethylene sheet rendering said bottom wall resistant to the action of moth-proofing reagents.

EMANUEL M. LONDON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,177,906 Miller Oct. 31, 1939 2,238,217 Enrick Apr. 15, 1941 2,238,681 Dorough Apr. 15, 1941 2,293,625 Patch Aug. 18, 1942 2,365,303 Smith Dec. 19, 1944 

